Conventional cabinet structures for storing fire extinguishers generally include a housing having an opening for receiving the fire extinguisher and a breakable door or cover lockably mounted on the housing over the opening for secure storage of the fire extinguisher while permitting emergency access thereto. The housing is generally formed of a high impact plastic material or metal. Illustrative are the prior art cabinet constructions disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,067,822; 3,220,791; 3,722,733; 4,034,697; 4,046,439; 4,449,588 and 4,763,732.
Although these prior art fire extinguisher cabinet structures are believed to function adequately for their common intended purpose, the structure that provides the attaching relationship of the cover on the housing and the securing mechanism are normally complicated and, therefore, expensive to fabricate. For example, the cabinet structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,732 includes a frangible hinge tab to secure the cover to the housing. The hinge tab is breakable in response to the application of a pulling force on a grip to facilitate emergency access to the cabinet. The hinge tab is, however, an integral part of the cover. Therefore, since emergency access destroys the hinge tab, the entire cover must be replaced after every emergency use.
The noted patent further requires a plurality of mating flange members and hinge tabs to align the cover when mounted on the housing, adding expense and complexity. Finally, the disclosed cabinet structure also requires a conventional padlock to facilitate secure locking of the cabinet structure, which adds further expense to the apparatus.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide an improved fire extinguisher mounting apparatus for storing a fire extinguisher or other like stored article which is simple in construction and reliable in operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved fire extinguisher mounting apparatus which employs a simple and inexpensive securing mechanism that eliminates the need to replace the entire cover after each emergency use.
Other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and accompanying designs and claims.